Flash
by Neuroses-Isn't-Just-A-Word
Summary: They say your life flashes before your eyes right before you die. For Hailey it's her and Aaron's life together.


It's amazing the amount of thought you can process in the last few moments of your life.

George Foyet was aiming a gun at the back of her skull and Hailey knew, _she knew_ she was going to die and her mind went a million different ways at once.

_Flash_

Hailey and Aaron got married when she was barely 21. Everyone told her they were nuts- he had just _started_ law school for crying out loud- but she didn't care. They were so crazy in love _not_ getting married seemed like the nuttier thing to do.

_Flash_

Hailey held the signed divorce papers in her hand and felt numb. She had been so furious earlier learning that Aaron was doing some interview at a prison at a time like this. She was _divorcing_ him for Christ's sake! Didn't that register as important? But now looking at her hus- _ex_-husband's neat, orderly signature on that stupid dotted line she couldn't remember exactly why she had been so eager for him to pay attention.

_Flash_

It was late, or early, depending on how you looked at it. 3:27 the clock read as Hailey blinked sleepily at it. She had been awoken by the sound of her husband finally getting home. She wearily turned in the bed, brushing her long hair away from her face- she was contemplating getting it cut- to see Aaron toeing off his shoes and throwing his clothes on the floor. Aaron was always so neat; whatever case he had been on must have been bad. He had only been at the BAU for a few months but this was the fifth time he had come home this late- there were nights he didn't come home _at all_- and it was never a good sign. Aaron turned to walk towards the bed and startled at seeing her awake.

"I'm sorry." He voice was low and broken and Hailey was pretty sure he wasn't really apologizing to her. She didn't want to know what horribly mangled victim she was a substitute for- maybe later down the road when she had a stronger stomach or spine or whatever she would be able to listen to him talk about his cases but not yet. Right now all she could do was open her arms and let him take comfort in holding her, knowing she would always be there for him.

_Flash_

Hailey was flipping through her copy of the script for Pirates of Pennsance when Megan Thompson walked over to her, giggling as she sat down.

"Aaron Hotchner is staring at you."

The blonde teenager looked up, her eyebrows knitting in confusion. "Who?"

Megan just giggled again and gestured to the far end of the stage where kids were lining up to audition. There, fidgeting nervously and yes, staring right at her, was a handsome dark-haired boy she vaguely recognized. Once he realized he had been caught the boy- _Aaron Hotchner_ Hailey repeated in her head, rolling the name around- ducked his head, his ears going _bright_ red, which Hailey found _absolutely_ charming. When he looked back up at her Hailey gave him a bright, friendly smile and he rewarded her with a shy, beautiful smile of his own.

_Flash_

At eight and a half months pregnant Hailey felt fat, tired, uncomfortable, sore, irritable, and uncoordinated. She loved their little boy more than she could put into words but she wished he would just _get out here _already. She waddled down the stairs to get the blueberry muffins and peanut butter their little guy seemed ravenous for, the fact that she even had to waddle not improving her mood much. She tore off a chunk of store-bought blueberry muffin- she just didn't have the energy for cooking right now- and dragged it through the peanut butter right out of the jar. Just as she was about to vengefully pop their son's concoction into her mouth she saw a note attached to the fridge.

_Hailey-_

_I love you. You're beautiful._

_-Aaron_

_P.S. What do you think of 'Jack' for the baby?_

Hailey felt warmth spread from her chest all the way up to the roots of her hair to the tips of her toes, washing away all the negative feelings plaguing her, and her face stretch into the widest smile she had smiled since finding out she was pregnant. Jack was perfect.

_Flash_

"Then there's nothing to talk about," she snapped at him, marching away before she could say something nasty. She couldn't _believe_ he was still working a case when he was supposed to be finding a new more stable job within the FBI so he could be with her and Jack more. So he didn't live in a world of terror and blood and torture that was slowly killing him.

Hailey locked the door to the bathroom and splashed cold water on her face. She rested her hands on either side of the sink, her head hung, letting the droplets of water run down the tip of her nose and off her lips and chin. If Aaron didn't quit the BAU she didn't know _what _she was going to do. She was at her wits end. The BAU was changing her husband- her soulmate.

Yes, it was a bit cheesy and naïve to believe in things like destiny and soulmates but Hailey did. And Aaron was hers. Or he had been until his job had molded his soul into a different shape so it theirs no longer properly fit together.

There was a time where even when he was on a particularly grueling case, worn out and emotionally drained he would look at her and she could _feel_ that he loved her. He looked at her now and she couldn't tell anymore. All that wonderful humor and light and life and love and warmth had been leeched from him.

Hailey finally raised her head to face herself in the mirror. She hated herself for even thinking of leaving him- he was such a good man, such a good, _good_ man- but she hated the snarling, spiteful creature she had become more. And they couldn't raise their son like this. They just _couldn't_.

_Flash_

The only good experience Hailey had ever had in a hospital was when Jack was born. This was not about to change. Aaron- not _her_ Aaron, her husband, the man she still loved with everything she was- was propped up in a hospital bed stitched and bandaged and hurt and her first instinct was to run to him and hold him and kiss all his wounds until she made them better. But she knew she couldn't because if she did she would never be able to let go and never be able to stop crying. (She as gone through bottles of eye drops and make-up the first month or so after the divorce so Jack wouldn't know she had cried herself to sleep again.) So she kept her distance- this wasn't _her_ Aaron and she couldn't make it better, she didn't know how anymore. He was talking about protective custody and Hailey just couldn't wrap her mind around it.

Leave? How could she and Jack leave? Didn't he want to be with is son? A smaller voice- that snarling, aching, spiteful thing- asked: Didn't he miss her at all? Which was a stupid, cruel thing to even think.

There was a part of her, a tiny part that was still 16. That part of her comes up with fantasies that _her_ Aaron comes back. He leaves the BAU and gets a teaching position or goes back to practicing law or just transfers to another department or something and shows up at her doorstep with flowers or chocolates or a puppy or some other cheesy, romantic, sweet gesture and they make love in the foyer because they can't stand being away from each other another second. After they've sated their desire and get dressed Jack comes running down the stairs and they all embrace and stay like that forever- happy and safe and _together_.

But she isn't 16 anymore. She has to be strong for Jack and keep him safe and hope and pray Aaron's injuries don't leave scars to remind him of this.

_Flash_

They're sitting on the couch in their apartment; Aaron is studiously pouring over his legal textbooks while Hailey flips through the newspaper looking for events they can go to for her 21st birthday. She glances over the top of the paper because she can _feel_ the tension rolling off of her boyfriend- he can get so wrapped up in his studying he sometimes forgets he's only human. She sighs; knowing nothing she says will really make it better, and puts down the paper.

"Here," Hailey starts, leaning forward to grab a stack of note cards and a pen, "let me help. I'll make you some flash cards; we can study together." This startles Aaron out of his headspace and his and darts out to cover hers over the note cards. He turns his head to look at her with intense, wondrous eyes.

"Marry me."

"What?"

"Marry me."

Hailey doesn't even try to dignify the sharp sound of joy that escapes her or that she tackles him to the ground, his books and papers flying into disarray, because she's too busy kissing every inch of skin she can get to repeating 'yes' over and over and over again.

_Flash_

The cocking of the gun behind her brings Hailey back to the present. And suddenly all she can think is '_Please God_, let Aaron get here before he hurts Jack' and that maybe this is what she deserves for trampling all over a good man's heart and she wants to tell Aaron she loves him but-

_Flash_

Everything goes dark.


End file.
